With the success of the Enola Holmes movies, Millie Bobby Brown inked a deal with Netflix to star in and executive produce the fantasy film. This time she plays Elodie, another Netflix character that starts with an ‘E,’ I wonder if that’s in the contract?
Just by the name alone it immediately tells us she’s the heroine of the story and that it’s going to be a twist of the ‘damsel in distress’ trope. Elodie’s tale begins centuries after the king in her kingdom of Aurea led a quest to slay a dragon in an underground lair. Out of the blue Elodie receives a proposal from Queen Isabelle to marry her son Prince Henry. It starts out in a dreamy way where her whole family, dad Lord Bayford, stepmother Lady Bayford, and sister Floria are whisked to the palace like royalty in preparation for the big day. The production design is quite stunning to look at and I love the costumes by Amanda Monk (who just worked on Dungeons & Dragons, Honor Among Thieves).
Of course, we could see a mile away that this isn’t a wish-fulfillment fantasy where the new royal couple live happily ever after. Nope, as soon as the lavish wedding ceremony is done, the prince tosses Elodie down into the dragon’s lair. The movie’s tone immediately switches from sumptuous period drama to fiery survivalist mode. Millie is on fire here, metaphorically and literally, as she plays hide and seek with the chatty dragon. It’s inspired casting to have Shohreh Aghdashloo (love her as Avasarala in The Expanse) voice the dragon, her distinct raspy voice gives Benedict Cumberbatch’s Smaug a run for its money! The extensive banter between Elodie and the Dragon (which would make a cool title, btw) reminds me of Bilbo and Smaug’s scene in The Hobbit.
Directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo from a script by Dan Mazeau, the story flips the classic princess fairy tale narrative on its head, which would be cool if it weren’t so on the nose. Marketed as an original, that is not based on an existing IP, Damsel has plenty of clichéd, derivative elements, but Millie is charismatic enough as the bad-ass dragon slayer to hold my interest. At times she reminds me of young Natalie Portman circa The Professional. As seen in the Enola Holmes films, Millie clearly could handle the physicality of her role very well but Damsel takes the action scenes a few notches.
The supporting cast is comprised of excellent veterans such as Robin Wright as the Queen and Angela Bassett as Elodie’s caring stepmom. It’s interesting to see the script also flips the conventional wicked stepmother trope on its head and takes a good jab at the patriarchy by making her father (Ray Winstone) the wayward one. Wish Bassett were given more to do here though.
The movie spends a great deal of its 1 hour 50 minute running time in the lair, and though it could’ve been trimmed down a bit, the dragon’s story arc is pretty compelling and makes you sympathize with the creature. It also reminds me of the story of How To Train Your Dragon, though this is more about How to Tame Your Dragon. The creature design is gorgeous too, the VFX does a great job making it a massive slithering cat-like monster that’s quite expressive. The lair itself is well-designed, especially the sparkling stalagmites in the caverns with the glowing worms with healing powers.
Overall Damsel is an entertaining action fantasy that manages to differentiate enough from its ilk. The ending is satisfying albeit predictable, so it’s a decent addition to Dragon movies with a strong female lead. The female autonomy and male-savior-be-damned messages surely resonate with Gen-zers.
The movie stands as Netflix’s most-viewed film of the year so I wouldn’t be surprised if there’ll be a Damsel 2, not that I’m clamoring to see it.
Have you seen DAMSEL? Let me know what you think!
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FLIXCHATTER FILM BLOG 
Another great review! I think I’m going to skip this one because of the bad reviews. That being said, I will say that I’m a huge fan of Millie Bobby Brown who has proven to be a talented young actress. I loved her performance in “Enola Holmes” as Sherlock’s younger sister. Here’s why I love that film:
I like Millie too but you’re not missing much by skipping this one. It’s not as good as the Enola movies.
It’s ironic how Millie is in a Repunzel situation in real life, bound by Netflix contract. I feel bad for her, honestly. She’s a diva and many people I know detest her. But She doesn’t bother me; Im inspired by her 11 character. Stranger Things is my fav show. Anyhow, it seems like Damsel is trying hard, but I do see myself watching and enjoying.
Ahah, I never thought of it that way that she’s ‘bound’ by Netflix as I think they pay her a handsome sum for starring and producing. I mean she’s still just a kid but yet she can have her picks of projects. I don’t follow gossip so I don’t really read into her being a diva, I think social media can be so harsh on famous young girls.
Oh she produced too? Nice. For sure, and I don’t know much, I’m only basing my impression off interviews in which she’s said she is eager to move on from Stranger Things, basically. Yes she is so young and I think she is going to have a brilliant career. You know who she kinda reminds me of? Natalie Portman!
Mwahahaha! Did you read my review? I mentioned that she reminds me of Natalie Portman in this role, esp when she did The Professionals.
Might’ve ‘skimmed’ that paragraph😏😅 Well it’s official then – we have independently arrived at the conclusion She is the next Natalie Portman!🤘😈
Great minds think alike 😉
There are a few scenes in Damsel where I was like ‘wow! She’s the new Natalie Portman’ 😄 This movie is just okay not great, but yeah, she’s already producing her own films at 20, and THAT is impressive!
Wow that is impressive! Haha🙌🏼😎
I watched this and gave it a (tad) overly excited review haha Glad I read Your review first; it motivated me to watch!
Ahah yeah, glad I remember they gave everything away in the trailer but the movie itself is still pretty entertaining.
I would still like to see this but I still don’t have access to Netflix on my smart TVs right now.
Oh I can’t watch anything on my phones… I guess I’m just too old but I prefer to watch stuff on my TV unless it’s a short less than 15 minutes 😀
I saw a trailer of this a while back and it looks like the whole movie was shot in front of green screen. Lol! It’s not something I’d watch but maybe when I’m bored, I’ll watch it someday. Ha ha.
I don’t think this is for you Ted, unless you’re really into dragon movies, ahah.
I’m kinda looking forward to seeing this, because dragons. That said, I’m not expecting anything anywhere on the level of, say, Dragonslayer ― including when it comes to how impressive the dragon effects are, despite the fact that Dragonslayer is now over 40 years old(!!!) …
Hi James, welcome to FlixChatter! Well if you love dragon movies, you’ll enjoy this one I think. The design of the dragon is terrific, but it’s the voice work that makes it memorable.